The NerdFlex Motion Control System

I've gotten a lot of questions about my custom motion control system I built for stop motion animation, from the LEGO community and beyond. So I decided to put together a video to share what it is and how it came about. 

LEGO Life

The cat's out of the bag. The "super secret" project we've been working on at BrickNerd Studios is finally in the wild and we can share. You may have seen some behind the scenes teases through the months, but we've kept what we were working on under wraps. Credit for the structure goes to the LEGO enfield model shop. The animation was done by James Morr and turned out spectacular. I did the cinematography, editing and compositing, as well as built all the equipment. Check out the finished spot.

This project required multiple custom built motion control rigs, which kept me busy for weeks. I scratch built an Arduino based motion control unit, a follow focus, giant turntable and dolly track system. The camera rig is a Ditogear slider mounted vertically, with a custom built counterweight system and a Stage-R pan/tilt head. Here's a behind the scenes peek at just a fraction of the work that went into this project.

Control Freak

You know what makes really cool camera moves happen in stop motion animation? Motion control, that's what. I've launched a gofundme campaign to get one of these little beauties at BrickNerd Studios. Click through to help.

80's Movies Were Rad

This MOC by Grantmasters gives me a happy. It depicts the visual effects crew of Aliens doing a motion control shot of the Sulaco. So it's pretty much my one of my favorite movies, one of my favorite ships and one of my favorite aspects of visual effects built out of my favorite toy. So much WIN!